


Anywhere, Anywhere

by KeganHorse



Series: Give Me Love or Give Me Death [1]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 8x04 reaction fic, Epilogue, F/M, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 01:58:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18729409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeganHorse/pseuds/KeganHorse
Summary: The last war has been won, her list complete, and now Arya must choose a new path for her future.





	Anywhere, Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I have many feelings about 8x04, but whatever. This is how I am rectifying it in my mind.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, I am working on the next chapter of Between the Bars, it's just been a while and I am trying to make sure the tone and voice remain consistent.

Arya picked her way through the aftermath, peering into all the faces that had been offered up to the God of Death that day. Not hers, not the Hound's, and not Jon's. But many, many others all the same.

King's Landing had burned, thanks to the Dragon Queen. But with the advice of Tyrion and Jon, the damage was as minimal as it could have possibly been. And thanks to the Kingslayer, Cersei had never been given the chance to finish the job.

Jaime had laughed when they entered the throne room, Jon leading the charge with Arya, the Hound and a few others as rear guard. He sat the throne, much like he had years before when he had killed Aerys. Cersei's body lay at his feet, and he laughed.

"Where is the Dragon Queen?" Jaime had asked, rising from the throne. He looked at his sister once more before stepping around her body and coming to stand before Jon. "I was just keeping her throne warm for her."

Arya could see the madness in his eyes, the guilt and pain and every other emotion known to man warring with one another. She had seen the look in Jon's eyes too, when he had been forced to kill his love.

Two men, same story.

Jaime was with his brother now, and Jon was working on the future of the kingdom. King Aegon, sixth of his name, Protector of the Realm and all the rest. Arya did not know where the Hound snuck off to.

Brown eyes. Green eyes. Blue eyes.

All of them shut forever in a war they had no stake in. Gone on the whims of those who were supposed to protect them.

She stopped suddenly, turning her head down a side street. The gutters that lined the roads were filled with blood and carnage instead of the piss and shit of usual, and in the distance she could hear the singing of steel. It was a melody she knew well, and so she followed it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked when she saw him, still half in armor and dripping blood from a wound in his arm, but swinging his hammer in that same single-minded way she remembered.

He didn't answer at first, wouldn't even look her way. He had been here the whole time, she realized. He had known where she was before the battle and after, yet he had never sought her out. Finally, he lay down his hammer and turned, though his eyes remained on the dirty forge floor.

"I came to help," he said quietly, fiddling with the tools on his worktable. "A smith is always useful."

Arya cocked her head. "A smith? I thought you were a lord now."

"Yeah, well. That didn't work out," his eyes darted up a moment, and he gave a weak grin as though he just told a joke. Turning around to reclaim his hammer, Gendry said, "Besides, I never wanted to be a lord anyway."

Arya could feel her mouth go dry, the hairs on the back of her neck stand tall. She remembered how happy he had been, how wide his smile was when he asked her to be his lady.

"What do you want?"

She watched his shoulders slump, his free hand rise to cover his face. "I don't know anymore. I guess it depends."

"On what?"

Her heart in her throat, Arya took a step closer to his back. Then another. By the time he turned around, she was right in front of him. With an angry huff, Gendry threw his hammer back onto the table before grabbing her around the shoulders.

"You know what I want, Arya," his face was set, serious and eager as he finally looked her in the eye. His fingers dug through her leather jerkin and into her arms, not quite to the point of pain but definitely bruising. "I'm sorry about wording it all wrong, but all I want is you. When Daenerys made me a Lord, I finally felt like I was worthy of you, but I was wrong. Nobody will ever be worthy of you, Lord or not. After you left, I told her I didn't want Storms End or a title, and I came south. I didn't know if I would find you here or not, so I came for Jon. I came because you asked me to serve your brother, and that was all I had left."

Arya couldn't speak, she couldn't move. Gendry continued to hold her, his eyes boring into hers, until suddenly he seemed to realize his grip upon her shoulders. He released her like she had burned him and stepped back, knocking clumsily into his anvil.

"I'm sorry," he said, back to looking at the ground. "I'm sorry, I-"

"I love you."

She had said it quietly, his eyes snapping up to meet hers in a surprise that she was sure matched her own, but she pushed on.

"I love you," she repeated. "I do, but I'm no more a lady than you are a lord."

She could see the tears start to form in his eyes and instantly her heart began to break for him. She rushed towards him, lifting her hands to his cheeks, forcing him to look her in the eyes once more.

"So come with me."

Gendry's mouth worked once, twice, but he made no sound.

Arya smiled as best she could, fear and anxiety beginning to battle within her. But she swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and spoke.

"I may never wish to marry, or have children. I may never settle down. Since we parted from the Brotherhood, I have done many terrible things. I cannot promise you that I won't do more bad things, because I am not really sure I'm all that good of a person anymore. But I love you, and you are my family. That will never change. So come with me."

Gendry stared at her a moment, his face betraying nothing, and Arya could feel the fear beginning to take control. But then he smiled, and his hands came to wrap around her waist to pull her closer. 

And then he was kissing her, deep and wild and just the way Arya liked.

He pulled away, kissing her gently on the nose before burying his face into her neck.

"Anywhere, m'lady. Anywhere."


End file.
